Krayson felt as if he was experiencing a dream. The world around him was indistinct. Hazy. By degrees, the murk began to congeal into clarity, muffled sound grew concise, and the knowledge that lay on the other side of Fate opened itself to his mind.

The male voice of Kumo spoke from Krayson's side. "A memory yet to be made," he said. "This lies near in your future, my saint. It is all but certain."

Krayson blinked until he could see Kumo again. The god had once again taken a human form, only this time it was a male figure. Still with pure white skin, multi-colored eyes, and a garment of colorless spider silk. The male Kumo's robes were similar to Aleesh garments and left his broad chest bare. He had striking bone structure. His cheekbones and jawline were sharply angled, and Krayson easily imagined that some of the women in his life would've swooned a little at the sight of him. Enfri in particular, because the Dragon Empress was fairly obvious about her attraction to muscular bodies.

Kumo looked towards him. "This is why you are here. Do not waste this opportunity."

Krayson blinked again and swiftly averted his eyes towards what Kumo presented for him. It was a place Krayson didn't recognize, a city square or commons. It was nighttime, the moon was out, and there was a crowd gathering. The people had deeply dark skin and wore colorful clothes, so Krayson assumed they were Melcians. At the very least, they were northerners, but Krayson assumed Melcia from the cultivated jungle trees that encircled the commons. This wasn't far off from how he'd always pictured the Silver City of Adezu.

Kumo strode forward to pass among the press of hundreds of people, and the crowd moved out of his way seemingly by chance. When Krayson followed, they did the same for him. The Melcians all looked towards the center of the commons, at a raised stone platform that rose at least two stories above everyone's heads. The people roared, and though Krayson walked among them, he couldn't make out any of the words they said.

"What is this?" Krayson asked. "Are we still in the Ethereum, or is this real?"

"Soon to be real," Kumo replied. "What you see is what is written within the web of Fate. Mere memory."

"Extrapolated memory, you mean," Krayson said. "In effect, this is just your best guess of what will happen."

Kumo nodded towards Krayson graciously. "It is as you say."

Krayson had learned to expect more pique from Kumo's responses. It seemed to him that the male version of the Great Spider was a little less irritable than the female or arachnid ones. Krayson couldn't tell if the different forms really did possess different personalities or if Kumo was just weary of rising to Krayson's prodding.

"Are you ever right?" Krayson asked.

"More often than I would wish," Kumo replied. "I am seldom completely accurate, yet Fate asserts itself enough that I have learned to hate being proven correct."

Krayson shrugged to himself and felt that this was the most understandable thing he'd heard from the Great Spider. There was a sense of solidarity between pessimists. "To push the issue, what is this specifically?"

"Your friend's execution," Kumo said in a quiet tone and continued to walk through the crowd.

Krayson stopped in place. "What? Who are you talking about?"

"I am sorry, my saint, but I see no hope of averting this outcome. Bannlyth the Karst will die."

"Lord Ban?"

Krayson looked up towards the stone platform that was central to the crowd's attention. He hadn't noticed before in the haziness, but now he could see clearly. There were people up there. King Adeyemi, Prince Zoputan, a Melcian woman who hung on Zoputan's arm, and another man who was bound with chains and held down on his knees by angels.

"When will this happen?" Krayson demanded of Kumo. "Thunders take you, spirit, when was he taken?"

"Soon after you left him," Kumo replied, "and he will die before the mortal world sees another sunrise."

"Curse you, how long?"

Kumo met his angry glare, and his expression was one of sympathy. "In moments. I am sorry, my saint. You cannot stop this."

Krayson opened his mouth to shout a denial, but another sound pulled his eyes back towards the platform. Laughter, maniacal and terrifying, and it came from Ban's throat. The angels had pulled back his tattered uniform and removed the steel binds around his neck in preparation for the headsman. All across Ban's bleeding skin, there were runes carved into his flesh. Even from this distance, Krayson could read Ingtar within an array attuned towards explosive dispersion. Worse was the twenty-five lines of Shoveth, rune of decay. Ban's self-mutilation had transformed him into a living spell which could only bring death.

"He wouldn't," Krayson said, and it was nearly a whimper.

"A man can be turned into a monster," Kumo said, "and as thus he shall be remembered until the sands of time turn to glass."

"My son, no!"

Krayson turned in surprise. Lady Ascania tried pushing her way through the crowd towards Ban. She was accompanied by Kimpo the Huntress, Jalla the Historian, and a score of Ruby and Opal crewmen who abandoned all pretense of stealth to start fighting their way to the platform.

"Little warrior, so help me..."

Ban burst his chains and stood, ignoring the pleas of both his mother and partner dragon. He threw his arms out wide and his head back, still laughing like a fiend. The bloody runes and lines carved into his body began to glow red, as did his eyes. In the depths of madness, blood magic claimed him, he flared his etherlight, and Ban Karst died. He took a city with him.

Hellfire swept across the commons. Everyone, the angels, Ascania, the dragons, their crews, the Akazewis, the people, the children, every brick and lane of the Silver City of Adezu, turned to ash. Ban conjured an arcane apocalypse upon his captors at the cost of his life, and his soul.

The dark sky became a maelstrom of soot and smoke. Gray flames burned across every tree and wooden structure. Buildings teetered and fell as their supports were burned away. Except for the crumbling of once silver towers, all was silent. No one was left to scream.

Krayson shielded his face from the explosion of black flames, but the hellfire didn't touch him or Kumo. He looked towards the epicenter of the cataclysm and saw a single figure remaining.

The woman who'd been on Zoputan's arm. Unscathed. She dropped the cinders that remained of her prince to the ground and smiled coldly at where Ban had stood a moment before. As towers collapsed around her in a city absent of any signs of life, the woman took in a deep breath of ecstasy and raised up her hands to the sky in triumph.

"Kumo," Krayson asked, his voice hoarse. "Who..."

"She carries the name of Adaku in Melcia, a common-born woman who captured the heart of the Boy General. Their betrothal has carried on for the past seven years, ostensibly waiting on her education in the Adezu Institute to conclude before they join hands before Mother Sun."

Krayson recalled Maya and Josy mentioning something of Zoputan's long betrothal. It'd been a sore spot with Maya for some reason.

"But... who is she?"

"Centauri," Kumo said, and his male voice took on an aspect of venom. "The oldest creature in Melcia."

"Demon?" Krayson asked weakly.

"Demon." Kumo turned away as Centauri waved her hands and vanished into a cloud of darkness. "Come. There is more you must see."

He walked several paces, and the web of Fate appeared before him. The threads parted as if to present a passage once again.

"I... have to try," Krayson said. He stood transfixed by the devastated city, the piles of ash that were once a people. "I have to stop this."

"It has already begun," Kumo said. "There is nothing more for you here. There was only the knowledge of the old master who causes this."

Krayson stood in place, unable to move.

"Another step, my saint," Kumo said, "then another."

Krayson gave the dead city a final, mournful look before following Kumo. He felt helplessness like a smothering weight on his heart. Distantly, he was aware of a flash of light upon the remnants of the stone platform. It was followed by a goblin's cries of anguish. Krayson grit his teeth and pressed on through the web.

He arrived in another place. Another time.

"As the last was a memory of what may be, so is this a memory of what was." Kumo gestured towards the dank chamber ahead. This was a place Krayson recognized, but he had seen it long after the time of this memory.

Eight years ago. The Spired City, in the depths of Eastrun, within a dilapidated tenement building. The final stand of the enclave of Aleesh led to Althandor by Elise Alinwé.

"Marson, above you!"

Krayson watched as a royal assassin dodged to the side as stone and timber fell towards him from the story above. An apparent collapse. The young assassin tucked into a roll and came back to his feet, a sword at the ready in both hands.

"This one's cagier than the others," Marson said, glancing towards the rubble that'd nearly crushed him. He had a powerful frame and a face that took easily to friendly smiles. There was something of Nadia in his features; a hawkish nose, tanned skin, and a square jaw, but he was primarily of Althandi blood. His beast-like eyes swept the open chamber of the tenement's ground level, seeking out his enemy. "Thanks for the warning, Vintus. That was nearly the end of me."

Vintus moved in a crouch to Marson's side. The prince was younger, his features less hard, but he was still the cruel-looking bastard Krayson knew. "If this woman's what we think she is, you need to me more careful." Vintus flashed Marson a cocky smirk. "Can't let that little girl of yours grow up an orphan, can we?"

Marson grimaced. "Hey now, that's a low blow. You know full well nothing scares me more."

"Just a reminder of what's at stake," Vintus said as he put his back to Marson's. "The king's eyes are on this contract. No mistakes."

"Aleesh in his city? If I were him, I'd be leading the charge."

Vintus grinned darkly. "Soon enough, Cousin. My brother won't sit this one out entirely. I assure you." He pointed with his sword. "They're heading to the upper levels. The guards can handle what's left down here. Follow me. Our prey is Elise of Eastrun."

The royal assassins sped up a nearby stairway, leaving Kumo and Krayson behind.

"Why are you showing me this?" Krayson asked once he was alone with Kumo.

"To answer a question which has long eluded you." Kumo gestured towards a side passage. "The truth of this night weighs heavily upon Fate."

An Althandi soldier came out of the passage. He held a length of chain in his hand and pulled sharply. Bound to the chain's length by manacles were at least a dozen children, ranging in age from four to ten. Another soldier brought up the rear, prodding the young ones forward with the butt of his spear. The armsmen's shouts forced terrified wails from the children, which only angered the armsmen further.

"Blustering whelps," the one pulling them by the chain shouted. "I've had enough of this. Let's drop them here and say they tried running."

The other one shrugged. "Fair enough. Not like anyone's left to miss 'em."

The armsmen threw down the chains, too heavy for the children to move on their own, and drew their side swords. The Aleesh children squalled with terror.

"What's the meaning of this?" a commanding voice boomed.

Both armsmen immediately snapped to attention. They held their swords to the side as if sheepish to be caught with them drawn.

"Half-breeds are to be spared," Cathis said, walking into the commons. He was outfitted as a royal assassin, and his hair didn't have even a hint of gray in it. Though his sword was drawn, he carried it in his left hand so that it was shielded from the children's sight by his body. "I have made my count of them," Cathis continued. "Twenty-three. Should just one less reach the Sanguine Tower, I will hold the pair of you personally responsible. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Your Grace," both armsmen said in unison. They took up the chains once again, and they went more gently about escorting the captive children from the building.

Before they were gone, Cathis met the eye of one of the children. A young boy, maybe eight years old, who appeared more Nadian than Aleesh. Tears ran down both the lad's cheeks, and his lips were curled back over his teeth in a hateful snarl. Cathis met those young, accusing eyes until the children were led out of sight.

The Highest King sighed, his shoulders sagging.

"Brother?" Another assassin followed Cathis into the commons. Krayson had never met this one, but he recognized the description of Prince Gain. A tall man, strong, with a scarred and pockmarked face like a sheet of worn leather. "At least half of those children have received arcane training. Some are clearly more than half Aleesh."

"What would you have me do, Gain?" Cathis asked quietly.

The elder brother took in a short breath before responding. "I know I wasn't there. I don't know what happened, but I can guess near enough. You're still thinking of Ejasta."

"There's enough blood on my hands for a hundred lifetimes," Cathis said softly. "Need I compound it with the blood of children?"

"To avert another death curse? Unquestionably."

Cathis clenched his right hand into a fist until it shook. "Whatever punishment the Aleesh deserved, they've paid a thousand times over."

Gain seized Cathis by the shoulder. "It was never about their punishment," he said forcefully. "You know that."

"And the punishment we deserve?" Cathis asked.

Gain's eyes widened by degrees.

"Regardless," Cathis said. He dropped his question and made his voice like stone. "My order stands. Spare the half-breed children, and err on the side of mercy."

Gain shook his head. "It doesn't take pure blood to carry elder magic. What if one of those brats belongs to Elise? What if there's another of her bloodline still out there somewhere, and we let them live because their face is Althandi enough to pass muster? What then?"

Cathis looked down with a furrowed brow, then he shrugged and clapped Gain on the shoulder. "Don't be so paranoid, Brother. What are the chances of that?"

Gain breathed a drawn-out sigh as Cathis walked towards the stairway. He followed his brother a moment later, and Krayson was surprised when Kumo joined them. Falling into step beside the Great Spider, Krayson eyed the god.

"You wonder of what changed," Kumo stated. "Of how a king who regretted the blood he took would then perpetrate the largest hunt for Aleesh the world has seen in centuries."

Krayson scowled. "It crossed my mind."

"Hydromancy was not always the weapon of humanity. Under the influence of Prince Vintus and Duke Falthis, the elder magic granted by my counterpart has done much harm in the service of the old masters."

"Falthis made sure Cathis received an oracle about what Elise would do," Krayson said. "They always planned on unleashing her, and they timed Cathis' visit to the augurs so that he would be guaranteed to get one about Elise."

Kumo nodded. "It was the poor luck of a sky woman that led House Algara to believe it was Enfri Page the oracle spoke of. Trust me, the enemy capitalized on that happenstance."

Krayson swallowed. "You... deal in possibilities, yes?"

"Indeed."

"So... you have an idea of... what might have happened if things were different?"

"I do." Kumo glanced Krayson's way as they took the stairs after Cathis and Gain. "If I were to give counsel, my saint, I would ask you not to dwell on what might have been. Mistakes and tragedies are an inevitability. How we recover from them is what defines us. Growth or stagnancy. Meaning or meaninglessness. Hope or nihilism. The difference often lies solely in the perception."

Krayson chewed the inside of his lip as he mulled that over. He still thought he'd like to know, but he was willing to drop it. Gain and Cathis had reached the upper floors, and Krayson wanted to see how Vintus managed to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. One detail in particular weighed on him.

He followed Cathis into a small but crowded room. With Cathis and Gain, Marson and Vintus, and the prisoner bound and kneeling in the middle of this squalid apartment, there was little room for Kumo and Krayson to move around. However, as in the memory of Adezu, where Kumo went, these phantoms of memory moved aside as if it was a choreographed dance.

Krayson was tempted to amuse himself by continuously walking into Vintus and see how the apparition managed to avoid contact. That would've been worth a chuckle or two. Krayson's mischief was immediately thrust out his mind when he saw the captive. Elise was unchanged, though her common wardrobe was in dire need of a needle and thread. Her head was covered by a shawl, which Gain promptly pulled off to let her hair spill down over her shoulders.

"This is her," Gain said with a grunt. He held a lock of Elise's hair between his fingers. "Matches the description of the woman who murdered Hierarch Coren."

Cathis spared Elise a brief look before turning to Vintus and Marson. "Are you well, Cousin?"

Sweat glistened on Marson's brow, and his voice was strained as he gave his reply. "Well enough," he chuckled unconvincingly. "She just got a little of her knife in me. Nothing a quick trip to a sky woman can't fix."

"Try my surgeons first," Cathis said with a slight grin. "They've a tent set up with the armsmen. See them as soon as we finish here."

"As you say, Your Grace," Marson agreed.

Elise had been growling at Gain's touch on her hair, but her attention shifted at Marson's use of honorifics. "Your Grace? Flames take you, you're him!"

Cathis looked at her sidelong. "I am the Highest King, yes, and you are a wanted murderer in my city."

She spat at him.

"A woman in your position should give more thought towards the people in her care," Cathis warned. As he spoke, he brushed flecks of Elise's saliva from his chest. "You will be granted the opportunity to beg your case before the magocracy. Your conduct will go a long way towards the well-being of the others."

Elise gave a bitter laugh. "Who're you tryin' to fool? You already killed all my people."

Cathis shook his head and stood with his hands behind his back. "Not all. I mean to spare the children. In return, I only ask you confess to your crimes against Althandor."

The more the king said, the deeper Gain's frown grew. He didn't appear to be as amenable to sparing Aleesh as his brother.

"You yourself might earn clemency," Cathis said. "I have no desire to kill you, Elise Alinwé."

Elise drew back in surprise. "How do you know that name?"

"I was there in Ejasta," Cathis said. "I learned of your family. I know of your elder blood."

Elise tensed. Her struggling against the ropes binding her wrists went still. "There's something else you should've learned," she whispered.

Cathis raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"An empress never stops fighting." Elise pounced, her bonds snapping as she ripped them apart with what seemed to be sudden inhuman strength. She lunged at Cathis, a spike in her hand.

Vintus shoved Cathis aside and out of Elise's path. She fell on Vintus and struggled to drive her spike into his eye.

"I'll take you if I can't kill him!" Elise screamed.

She never got the chance. Krayson flinched away as spellfire crashed into Elise and threw her off of Vintus. Cathis stepped towards her and cast his spell again, burning her with magic as she howled.

Elise crawled away as the fire washed over her. Hair blackened away, flesh split, and meat seared. She continued to scream, but it wasn't from pain. It was rage.

She finally fell still. Elise died with her back against the wall. The blackened skull that remained of her head was bowed as if in prayer. Krayson backed away and still felt as if those final screams still hung around him.

Cathis shook. "Why?" he whispered. "Why would she throw her life away like that? I gave her a way out."

"Not to be callous," Vintus said, getting to his feet, "but I'm glad you killed her while you had the chance. She didn't harm you, did she, Brother?"

"I should be asking you that?" Cathis said. He offered Vintus his hand and pulled him to his feet. "No, I'm unharmed. She..." Cathis touched at his side, and his hand came away with crimson on the fingertips. "Ah. Seems she did get a piece of me. It's shallow. Not even worth a suture."

Vintus gave Gain a pointed look, and the eldest brother nodded in return.

Gain grabbed Cathis by the arm and gestured towards the door. "Even so, little brother," he said sufferingly, "to those surgeons you're so proud of."

Cathis gave a token resistance, but Gain was clearly the stronger of the two and unwilling to let the matter rest. Cathis' protests and Gain's warnings about infection and poison soon faded.

"Well," Vintus said gaily, "I don't think that could've gone any better."

Marson grunted in vague agreement. Curiously, his eyes were locked on Elise's charred remains.

Vintus sighed. "It was a necessary sacrifice. Your mate will be honored for this."

Marson looked at the remains for a moment more before turning away. He stood in front of Vintus with a blank, emotionless expression.

Vintus held up his sword between them. There was a thin line of red along the cutting edge. "Compliments of my brother. Use it before the real empress arrives."

Marson nodded. He held out his arm and manifested a holding spell. A body appeared beside him, one identical in appearance to himself. Dead.

"The real Marson Algara?" Krayson asked.

Kumo hummed an affirmative. "Murdered soon after he left our sight."

"By a doppler," Krayson said scathingly.

"The same doppler you've been dealing with for some time now." Kumo watched Krayson sidelong, and it almost looked like he was trying to hide a smirk.

Krayson watched as the doppler dumped the corpse of Marson Algara onto the floorboards and dropped his disguise. The entity who now wore an assassin's armor was hairless and painfully pale to the point where his skin was translucent. Pulsing veins and arteries were clearly visible just beneath his flesh. The doppler's head was an oblong shape with a domed skull, and his eyes were empty, white orbs the size of an apple. Krayson wasn't repulsed by the true form of a doppler so much as he was fascinated, but he thought that if he'd been given the chance, he'd knock this particular doppler upside the head with an oar.

"I'll tell Cathis the wound was worse than Marson let one," Vintus said, and held his sword towards the doppler. "Hurry now. We're short on time."

After touching the blood, the doppler quickly shifted forms until he was a perfect facsimile of King Cathis the Algara.

Soon after, a coterie of royal assassin led by Heron Algara arrived on the upper floor. Vintus and the supposed Cathis went to greet her, and Krayson wasn't about to stop spying on everything. Kumo didn't even need to lead the way as Krayson kept on Vintus' heels.

Once again, Elise of Eastrun was on her knees as the Highest King came to pronounce judgment on her. Krayson could only assume this Elise was the genuine one, and the last one he saw was another doppler Vintus was willing to let die for this ruse to succeed.

"That's what happened," Krayson murmured. "Neither Elise or Cathis saw each other in person. Cathis believes he killed Elise, and she thinks the Highest King spared her life. It was a performance facilitated by dopplers."

"So it was," Kumo said. He came to stand at the edge of this next room and watched.

Krayson took his place at Kumo's side. He was momentarily taken by surprise when he saw the younger Heron. She was still leading the intelligence coterie eight years ago, but she looked so much younger. Not that he ever thought her to be old, but the woman he saw here didn't appear to be much older than twenty.

"We can take it from here, Cousin," the doppler said to Heron.

"Your Grace, that's unwise. She nearly killed..."

"Heron," the doppler said, raising a palm for silence. His voice trembled with apparent emotion, and Krayson could only tell it was an act because he'd seen the transformation. "She killed Marson."

Heron's mouth fell open in shock. Varying expressions of grief came into the eyes of her entire coterie, followed by wrathful glares directed towards their prisoner.

"What in Hell are you talkin' about?" Elise demanded. "If I killed one of you bastards, I'd know it."

"No point lying now," the doppler said. "Heron, leave me. I will carry out this beast's sentence myself. Brother, you can stay."

Heron and the rest of her coterie exchanged veiled glances. Then, they bowed and withdrew from the room.

"What's it gonna be, Your Grace?" Elise mocked. "Don't tell me you want me. You're married. You even have three... oh, I'm sorry... two little children. Mustn't dishonor them by ruttin' with a lowly Aleesh."

The doppler made a good show of controlling his anger, though Krayson supposed some of it might have been genuinely born from his adoption of Cathis' memories and personality.

"Mind yourself," the doppler warned. "I'm about to offer you a chance to live. Don't squander it."

Elise scoffed. "I doubt it. Keep your offer. I know it's all lies."

"You don't know near as much as you think you do," Vintus said. "You see, the final player in the game tonight has finally arrived, and we can get on with this."

Krayson felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand upright. He looked up at Kumo, who gestured towards a dark corner of the room. Krayson watched as a figure materialized out of the shadows, dropping a spell that warped the light around his body.

The old man that appeared from the shadows wore a red half-robe with the hood pulled up over his head. His eyes were red, and his wisps of white hair hung to his jawline.

Krayson expected him. He'd long known Father Ranton, the Anointed Father of Wizards and Krayson's mentor in the Order, had had a part to play in this night. What Krayson truly wanted to know was why. Why would a good man like Ranton have a role in this treason?

"Were you seen?" Vintus demanded of Ranton.

"N-no," Ranton stuttered. "No, I don't believe so."

Vintus raised his brows and took a threatening step towards the old man. "I need you to be certain."

Father Ranton shrank back. "I'm certain. I passed through the paddock they're holding the Aleesh children. If anyone saw me, it wouldn't have been anyone but them."

Elise strained against her ropes. "What? They're alive?" She glared at Ranton. "How many? Who? Flames take you, blood mage, tell me!"

Ranton recoiled from her. "Who is she?"

"You know full well who she is," Vintus chuckled. "Now, Father, did you bring it?"

Ranton's hands shook like leaves as he reached into the pockets of his robe and drew forth a large diamond. Krayson knew that stone all too well. He'd carried the Imperial Diamond for a short time right before his life turned on its head.

"No one will notice it's missing," Ranton said quietly. "As long as it's returned to the Sanguine Tower before dawn."

"Of course," Vintus said. "First, you must do us a service, Father. Perform a rite on our lovely guest. Make her a daanman."

Elise struggled but couldn't loosen her bonds. "I'd rather die!"

"Simply not an option, I'm afraid," Vintus laughed. "It won't be so bad. My brother told you has an offer. I suggest you take it."

Kumo began walking away. "You have your answers, my saint," he said. "There is no need to remain."

"Wait," Krayson whispered.

"You will find only pain here," Kumo warned.

Krayson wasn't listening. He watched intently as Father Ranton pulled the bloodsong from Elise and placed it within the Imperial Diamond. He paid little mind to the doppler's offers to Elise. He didn't care about how she eventually accepted becoming his murderer in exchange for the lives of her enclave's children. Krayson's full attention was on Vintus leading Ranton away.

"Make certain that's kept safe," Vintus said, gesturing towards the Imperial Diamond. "I'd hate to have gone through all this for nothing."

Ranton nodded, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Cheer up, Father," Vintus laughed. "So long as the Imperial Diamond is safe in your tower, as long as your mental wards keep that woman from hearing voices, our little arrangement stands."

Ranton nodded again, refusing to let his eyes land anywhere near Vintus.

"My brother won't hear it from me," Vintus whispered into Ranton's ear. "Not from any tongue I command, either. We'll let you keep your little apprentice, and no one will need to learn how you're hiding a Krayson in your tower."

"Swear to me," Ranton whispered, because his voice was too weak and frightened to be anything louder. "Swear to me you won't tell anyone about my boy."

"I swear," Vintus promised. "Just keep that half-breed out of sight, and there'll never be another word said on the matter."

Falling to his knees, Krayson held his hands clutched over his chest.

My boy.

It all came back. The attack on the Sanguine Tower. Vintus and Elise. Being bound and gagged as he watched his Order die, the anointed fathers die. Ranton smiling for Krayson at the end of it all.

Krayson screamed until he felt like his throat would bleed.

It'd been for him. Ranton did it for Krayson.

Vintus went back towards where the doppler spoke with Elise, but Krayson couldn't be bothered to listen in. He reached out as Ranton shuffled past him, but as before, the phantom moved aside as if by chance. Krayson's fingers closed around nothing but air.

"Father," Krayson rasped. Far too late, he realized that he had never used that word towards Ranton as an honorific. Krayson knew who raised him to be the man he became, and it had never been Joshuan Jak'm.

Too late. Ranton was dead. Elise killed him in the end.

Feeling unsteady, Krayson turned to where his father's murderer stood. Elise had just gotten her bonds cut away, and she stared into the face she thought belonged to Cathis. For a moment, she remained defiant, then she turned on her heels and fled. She wouldn't go far. "Cathis" would have a contract for her soon enough.

"This has been the most profitable evening I've ever known," Vintus said joyfully as he watched Elise run from the tenement. "One meddling assassin dead, though it's such a shame poor Manon will grow up without parents. One Aleesh asset secured, a bloodsong held in trust, and the Cabal none the wiser." Vintus glanced towards the doppler and sighed. "Of course, before we celebrate, we must honor those who made it possible."

The doppler let go of Cathis' form. He reached into a belt pouch and came out with a stoppered vial of blood. With it, the doppler assumed a different appearance, a nondescript man who might've been from Vayl if from anywhere.

"I have a change of clothes waiting," Vintus said. He led the doppler away. "There's much work yet to do, but I feel like we've finally turned a corner. Come along, Kai. This war's only just begun."

Krayson snapped alert. His emotions could be put on hold. Ranton had taught him that. Act now, feel what you could once you were done. What mattered more was the doppler's name.

Kai.

He warned us when we were listened in on. He let the coterie fall on their own swords, and Maya... He was playing the same game with Vintus as she was.

All seven thunders, Maya was about to make a tremendous mistake!

"I need out of here!" Krayson shouted. He spun onto his feet and faced Kumo while practically vibrating with urgency. "Lemme out now! Now now now now now!"

Kumo grinned, perhaps a bit amused by Krayson's rapid delivery. "This, my saint, is not something you need to worry about. It is well in hand."